Birthday Boy Ryan Lochte Shakes Off Doubters With 200 Free Semis Top Seed at 2015 FINA World Championships

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

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After being written off this morning when qualifying 13th, USA’s Ryan Lochte showed he isn’t done yet on his birthday as he led the way in the men’s 200-meter free semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Lochte threw down a top time of 1:45.36 for the top seed. That swim moved him to the top of the world rankings, better than Paul Biedermann’s 1:45.60 from German Nationals.

Lochte pulled off the feat from out in lane 1 as he is looking for his 24th career world championship medal and potentially his 16th gold medal in long course competition.

Great Britain’s James Guy qualified second in 1:45.43 as he broke Robbie Renwick’s British record of 1:45.99 from 2009. He moved to second in the world rankings with the swim.

Australia’s Cameron McEvoy chased down the third seed in 1:46.09, while South Africa’s Chad le Clos clocked in with a fourth-seeded 1:46.10.

China’s Sun Yang, the 400-meter free winner, qualified in fifth in 1:46.17.

Germany’s Paul Biedermann (1:46.20), The Netherlands’ Sebastiaan Verschuren (1:46.43) and Russia’s Aleksandr Krasnykh (1:46.45) made up the rest of the championship field.

USA’s Conor Dwyer just missed the final with a ninth-place 1:46.64.

SCHEDULED EVENTS

Men’s 100 breast finals
Women’s 100 fly finals
Men’s 100 back semis
Women’s 100 breast semis
Men’s 50 fly finals
Women’s 100 back semis
Men’s 200 free semis
Women’s 200 IM finals

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